JMA Wireless hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning at its new facility on Syracuse’s Southside. The $100 million manufacturing campus produces the world’s most advanced all-software-based 5G platform. Gov. Kathy Hochul was in attendance and praised the space for bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.
“This defies what has happened globally for the last many decades, where we’ve not leaned into our innovation and our manufacturing capabilities and our workforce. We’ve not done that because those jobs and those ideas all went overseas. No more,” Hochul said.
Syracuse was hit especially hard when manufacturing jobs left the area. But JMA CEO John Mezzalingua said a 20-year-old report that doubted the future of manufacturing in Syracuse was incorrect.
“Their quote was ‘It would be difficult to offer any optimistic assessment of the prospects for manufacturing in Syracuse.’ And fortunately, I was taught relatively early on not to put too much stock in experts and conventional wisdom. Standing here, though, is proof that Syracuse is a great place to build,” Mezzalingua said.
The completed JMA facility on the Southside will soon be joined by others. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh thinks the new construction is a sign of a bright future.
“We’re just getting warmed up, seriously. You heard of some of the projects closer to downtown, but even closer, you see steel going up for the community health center expansion across the street. Salina First, led by a Black-owned construction and development team. Existing businesses right here on the Southside," Walsh said.
The JMA campus is still only in phase one. Currently, it houses the JMA headquarters and factory.
